The present invention pertains to a deployable cushion, and, in particular, to a deployable cushion for preventing injury to the passenger of a personal vehicle.
In the design of vehicles, stability may be traded for maneuverability and certain vehicles may, by design, lack a certain degree of stability. Vehicles of such design are susceptible to tipping, whether due to collision, mechanical failure, sudden turns on inclines, operator error, or an encounter with a surface irregularity which a stabilization mechanism is incapable of overcoming. Under these circumstances, the occupant or contents of the vehicle must be protected so that injury or damage does not result from propulsion of the occupant or contents toward the ground.
Methods are known for absorbing or diverting kinetic energy inherent in the motion of a vehicle to insure that it is not converted to propulsion of the occupant of the vehicle into a solid body such as the ground. Common examples are bumpers on cars, which absorb kinetic energy in crumpling metal, and airbags, which couple the mechanical energy of car passengers into the compression and redistribution of gas in a bag before enough time has elapsed for the bodies of the passengers to hit the steering wheel or windshield of the car with resulting serious injury.
In automobiles, pyrochemical means are used to inflate the airbag. Pyrochemical means are able to inflate the airbag extremely rapidly, but are relatively expensive and frequently use toxic chemicals. Other drawbacks include the requirement of special training and tools for service and replacement, and the danger of deployment with excessive and injury-producing force. In an unenclosed vehicle such as a wheelchair, the forcible inflation of an airbag by pyrochemical means is impractical, unsafe, and unnecessary. Other means are known to employ the kinetic energy present in a subcomponent of the vehicle, to inflate a bellows or other cushion to protect the vehicle occupants in the case of a head-on collision.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, in one of its embodiments, there is provided a deployable cushion mechanism for protecting the passenger of a personal vehicle. The cushion mechanism has a cushion for absorbing energy that has an interior surface and is coupled to the vehicle in such a manner as to permit inflation of the cushion outward from the vehicle. The cushion mechanism also has an actuator which releases the stored energy in such a manner as to introduce air from outside the cushion to within the interior surface of the cushion. In other embodiments of the invention, the cushion also has an energy reservoir for storing energy for inflation of the cushion, and at least one orifice for enabling air flow from outside the cushion to within the interior surface of the cushion. The valve for restricting airflow such that air may flow only in the direction from outside the cushion to within the interior surface of the cushion.
In an alternate embodiment of the invention, the energy reservoir may include a spring for storing mechanical energy, and the spring may be a compressible member. In further alternate embodiments, the deployable cushion may be coupled to the vehicle to permit inflation of the cushion backward, forward, or sideward of the vehicle. In yet further alternate embodiments, the cushion includes a valve for enabling air flow from outside the cushion to within the interior surface of the cushion, a plurality of bladders for constraining lateral motion of the passenger, an air-forcing device for propelling air from outside the cushion to within the interior surface of the cushion, and an aspirator adapted for increasing the volume of gas from outside the cushion introduced to within the interior surface of the cushion. The cushion may also have a latching mechanism which may be released upon pressurization of the cushion.